The present invention relates to a method for increasing the safety in the boarding area and for optimizing usage of the capacity in transport means or system, which comprise at least one locally fixed boarding area for the transport cars. Furthermore, the invention relates to a system for increasing the safety in the boarding area and for optimizing usage of the capacity in a transport means which comprises at least one locally fixed boarding area.
It is known from the state of the art, with transport means comprising at least one locally fixed boarding area such as for cable cars in skiing locations, to arrange the necessary access control devices in front of the boarding area, wherein the persons to be transported, following the check that they have access authorization, wait in the boarding area for the arrival of the transport cars in order to board.
However, this may lead to a loss in comfort, in particular during peak times, because many people are waiting inside a confined space. Disadvantageously this may also lead to accidents because too many people are in the vicinity of the arriving transport cars. Also accidents may occur during boarding when a lot of people are simultaneously trying to board the same transport car.
A further disadvantage consists in that, as a rule even at peak times, there are empty spaces in the transport car, because groups of people standing directly in front of the door of the transport car want to stay together so that the free seats available in the transport car are not sufficient to take all of them. In particular, with an indexing transport means, the transport car moves on without having exhausted its capacity.
Furthermore at peak times, such as in skiing areas, it may happen that with transport means having one or more intermediate stations between the start and end stations, the waiting times for the passengers wanting to board at an intermediate station are very long because the arriving transport cars are fully occupied.
Moreover a great many human resources are required in order to monitor the boarding areas, in particular at peak times, in order to interrupt operation of the transport means in case an accident or irregularity happens during the boarding process.